Tuesday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 7/30/2013

Home Prices See Biggest Gain in 7 Years

U.S. home prices jumped 12.2 percent in May compared with a year ago, the biggest yearly gain since March 2006. The increase shows the housing recovery is strengthening. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index also surged 2.4 percent in May from April. Read more from the AP and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Gov. Rick Scott plans Golf Channel jobs announcement

Gov. Rick Scott is scheduled to be in Orlando this afternoon for what his schedule calls a "jobs announcement" at The Golf Channel. The popular cable TV network has been in expansion mode recently, including the construction of a new combination studio-newsroom earlier this year. More at the Orlando Sentinel.

Office Depot posts quarterly loss, weak sales

Business Profile

Goff's Drive In

For more than 65 years, Goff's has been serving ice cream to neighborhood residents, Orlando politicians and a few NBA players from its small, stucco building between Church and South Streets.

Officially named Goff's Drive In, the walk-up, family-owned stand with a retro-looking sign opened in June 1948. Today the shop, which is one of the oldest businesses in Orlando, is run by Todd Peacock.

Boca Raton-based Office Depot said Tuesday the company lost $64 million on quarterly sales of $2.4 billion, down four percent from $2.5 billion a year ago. "Our second quarter results came in largely as expected," said Neil Austrian, chief executive. He said the results reflected the company's plan to merge with rival OfficeMax and strategy to downsize its retail footprint. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Jaguars sign agreement with Publix as 'official' supermarket

It’s out with one grocer and in with another for Jacksonville Jaguar sponsorship. The Jaguars franchise announced that Publix will now be the “official” supermarket of the team. The Florida-based grocery store chain will be among the top sponsors of the NFL franchise. More at the Florida Times-Union.

Brazil’s economy may be cool, but travel to Miami is still hot

Economic growth in Brazil is sluggish, inflation is stubbornly high, the real has sunk against the dollar and social unrest has roiled the country in recent weeks. That’s not exactly a confluence of events that should bring a smile to South Florida tourism officials this July — a time when Brazilians, who spent a record $1.5 billion in Miami-Dade County last year — typically flock to South Florida. More at the Miami Herald.

Out of the Box Candy-coated Business

Ink cartridges move back and forth across the printer carriage, leaving behind an image on a white surface. But this is no regular printing job being completed in the makeshift business office of a Parrish home. The cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink is actually FDA-approved food coloring. And the printing surface? Gourmet chocolate discs, glazed with white royal icing. This is chocolography.